April 21, 2021

CA 50+: Have you received a COVID vaccination?

After joining state and local vaccine notification services, an appointment search bot, a Facebook vaccine appointment search group — and a week’s worth of midnight appointment searches, I’m still unvaccinated and unscheduled. My eligibility began April 1st.

Would you please stop booking your appointments between the hours of 8am - 5pm this Friday? I’d like to get this off my “To do...” list. Many thanks!

-DG

March 22, 2021

These California counties are pushing the hardest for the Gavin Newsom recall

These California counties are pushing the hardest for the Gavin Newsom recall (SF Gate: 3/22/21)

Organizers hoping to force California Gov. Gavin Newsom into a recall election have to really like their chances after the secretary of state's office released another batch of petition signature numbers on Friday.

The state now reports roughly 1.2 million valid signatures through March 11, a figure close to the 1.5 million needed to trigger a recall election. There are still roughly 660,000 signatures yet to be processed by county elections officials, meaning organizers need only 45-50% of the outstanding signatures to be deemed valid. Clearing that threshold seems to be a near-certainty as the current signature validity rate is 82%.

All of the state-released reports offer a breakdown of signatures by county, and when using that data in conjunction with state voter registration data, it is possible to see which counties are most enthusiastic about the recall.

Below is an interactive map that shows the percentage of registered voters in every California county who have submitted a recall petition that has been processed and deemed valid by county officials. The county that submitted the most signatures per registered voters is Amador County, where roughly one in six registered voters has submitted a valid signature.

March 22, 2021

The Three Men Who Could Take Down Gavin Newsom

This is a good behind-the-scenes analysis of the “who and how” of the recall effort against California Governor, Gavin Newsom. It reeks of trump, racism and conservative extremism. Will it succeed? Let’s hope not. If it does, republicans will have another avenue to rule rather than govern — as well as, leveraging the minority against the majority.

The Three Men Who Could Take Down Gavin Newsom (Politico: 3/19/21)
The homebrew Republican campaign to recall California's governor is either a triumph of grassroots democracy—or a sign that in politics, there are no rules anymore.

Heatlie, who filed the initial recall paperwork, was off work and laid up with a bad back when he said he became “engaged in social media and Facebook-ing and YouTube and all that stuff.” It was only when he came across a 2019 video of Newsom advising immigrants of their right to refuse to open their door to anyone without a warrant that he began researching the possibility of a recall. Netter, a former office product sales executive who now sells real estate, said he initially “got a hair up my ass” not because of Newsom, but because of then-Senator Kamala Harris, who he saw as rising too fast through politics. When he found out senators couldn’t be recalled, he volunteered instead with a previous, failed effort to recall Newsom.

...Williams, who often moderates the recall proponents’ virtual town hall meetings, suggested the recall was only part of a bigger fight against “anti-Americans.” “California’s the head of the snake,” he said. “The rest of the tail is Sleepy Joe, and we’ve got to take back our country.”

He added, “I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and watch this whole country go to hell.”

... Heatlie acknowledges the campaign is “not just about recalling” Newsom, but of reimagining the way politics is run in California... In their minds, their crusade is broader than just taking down one governor: It’s as much against the Republican political establishment as it is against the Democratic one. Heatlie and Netter chafed when consultants told them they needed to raise millions of dollars to qualify a recall initiative. And though professionals like Gilliard and Anne Dunsmore, a well-known Republican fundraiser, had helped Heatlie and Netter last year, the two groups eventually split – coordinating with each other, but with separate books.

March 15, 2021

Vatican says...homosexuality a 'sin' and a 'choice' (CNN: 3-15-21)

Vatican says it will not bless same-sex unions, calling homosexuality a 'sin' and a 'choice'

The Vatican said Monday that the Catholic Church would not bless same-sex unions, in a combative statement approved by Pope Francis that threatens to widen the chasm between the church and much of the LGBTQ community.

Explaining their decision in a lengthy note on Monday, the Holy See referred to homosexuality as a "choice," described it as sinful and said it "cannot be recognized as objectively ordered" to God's plans. The stance is certain to disappoint millions of gay and lesbian Catholics around the world. "The blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit," the Vatican's top doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in the statement. God "does not and cannot bless sin," the statement added.

Pope Francis, who has frequently been praised for his welcoming tone towards LGBTQ people both within and outside the Church, approved the note.

The decision is a setback for Catholics who had hoped the institution would modernize its approach to homosexuality. Dozens of countries, include many in western Europe, have legalized same-sex marriages, and the Church's reticence to embrace LGBTQ people has long held the potential to alienate it from younger followers.

(More bullshit from the church here.)

I don’t have anything nice to say about religious institutions and their oppression of lgbtqi+ lives. The sooner queer people understand that this is yet another source of abuse, the better. Free your mind, enjoy your life. Amen.

November 9, 2020

Did you see the SNL Dave Chapelle AIDS joke? (Insert Eddie Murphy laugh noises here.)

https://twitter.com/dgellis0907/status/1325595108373385216

If this “once in a lifetime” comic genius and social commentary guru thinks AIDS jokes are funny well — fuck you. His comprehension of diversity, equity and inclusion is shit.

October 19, 2020

FYI: Choose Democracy group (How to stop a coup...)

I’m not posting to this to fearmonger. It’s simply an exercise in “What if...”. (Personally, I’m hoping to understand this well enough to analyze the *evidence* of election interference.)

choose democracy.us

Ten Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup

1. Don’t expect results Election night.

Election season 2020 is shaping up to be very unusual. Many mail-in ballots may not be counted until days or weeks after Election Day. Since Democrats are expected to use them more frequently than Republicans, voter tallies are expected to swing towards Democrats post-election night (they call it a “blue shift”). A wave of confusion may unfold starting Election night.

During this time expect false flags and outlandish claims. Be very cautious with news. Don’t simply pass on whatever seems dramatic examples of wrongdoing — but take the time to check if it has been verified, already debunked, or from a source you don’t trust.

Encourage people in your community to prepare for some uncertain weeks. As election results start coming in the message needs to come through loud and clear: count all the votes.

2. Do call it a coup.

People who do power grabs always claim they’re doing it to save democracy or claim they know the “real” election results. This doesn’t have to look like a military coup with one leader ordering the opposition to be arrested.

We can know it’s a coup if the government:

Stops counting votes;
Declares someone a winner who didn’t get the most votes; or
Allows someone to stay in power who didn’t win the election.
Here’s just one possible scenario: the night of the election (November 3) no victor is determined. Ballots keep getting counted. Meanwhile, there are claims (likely with minimal evidence) the incoming mail-in ballots now being counted are fraudulent. On December 14 the delegates for the electoral college meet in the state capital. But if the results are being contested, Governors and State Legislatures may each send in different results — one reflecting the results from voters, the other claiming “it’s a fraud” and “we know best” — undermining the integrity of the voting process.

This set of differences has to get resolved on January 6 by the new Congress. And if the House and Senate don’t agree about the result, then a convoluted process unfolds where the newly seated House selects (one-state-one-vote) the President and the Senate (by Majority) votes for the new Vice President. (#ShutDownDC provides a very helpful break-down of these steps.)

In any scenario, if any of those three principles are violated, we have to declare loudly and strongly: this is a coup.

More at the link above.

October 8, 2020

Artist's 'lost' erotic drawings worth 2m discovered

(No more hidden histories, please.)

Duncan Grant: Artist's 'lost' erotic drawings worth £2m discovered

Hundreds of explicit drawings by Duncan Grant, one of Britain's most famous mid-20th Century painters, have been found under a bed. "Everybody thought they had been destroyed," said Darren Clarke, head of collections at Charleston, the Sussex farmhouse where Grant lived and worked. In fact, the collection of mostly male sexual encounters was passed from lover to lover, friend to friend, in secret. The 422 works on paper are "a revelation", Dr Clarke said.

..."That is the fate of a lot of queer history," said Dr Clarke. "Relatives have destroyed it to protect the reputations of the person who has died or the family as a whole." However, the truth was they were rescued and eventually passed to theatre designer Norman Coates 11 years ago. And where did he keep them? "Under my bed," he said. "It's rather appropriate isn't it?"

September 24, 2020

Trump jeered as he visits Ginsburg's casket at U.S. Supreme Court (Vote him out!)

Enjoy this link!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted with jeers and boos on Thursday as he visited the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s flag-draped coffin outside the U.S. Supreme Court, by a crowd who had gathered to honor the liberal justice.

Trump, wearing a black face mask and accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, stood near the casket at the marble court building amid boos and chants of “vote him out.” The moment highlighted the public flashpoint Ginsburg’s death has become ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

The Republican president, who has already installed two top court picks since taking office in 2017, said earlier he would unveil his latest choice on Saturday, a week after the 87-year-old justice died on Sept. 18.

His decision to move quickly on a replacement less than two months before the election has drawn sharp battle lines between Republicans and Democrats, and reshaped the race as Trump seeks re-election during a coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 200,000 people in the United States and devastated the economy.

August 18, 2020

A photo directory of every* post office in the United States. Humble photographers, unite.

From your friends at The Post Mark Collectors Club!

30,000+ P.O. PHOTOS

Explore the world's largest curated collection of online post office photographs! With photos from all 50 states and every single U.S. county, you're sure to find photos of a post office near you!

Subject line: *almost

June 19, 2020

FYI: Conversion therapy network disbanding (Hope for Wholeness)

Fuck. These. People. Good riddance.


One of the nation's largest conversion therapy networks is disbanding
Hope for Wholeness, an “ex-gay” ministry with a presence in at least 15 states, advocated “freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ.”


Hope for Wholeness, a prominent ex-gay ministry that boasts one of the most expansive networks of conversion therapy offerings in the United States, is disbanding.

The Spartanburg, South Carolina-based organization, founded in 1999 as Truth Ministries, told members in an email Monday and obtained by NBC News that Hope for Wholeness would be closing its operations, citing the group’s difficulties in retaining a director to lead their efforts.

<snip>

This is enormous for a lot of reasons,” said Mathew Shurka, co-founder of the Born Perfect project, which aims to end conversion therapy in every state. “Hope for Wholeness is a well-known conversion therapy organization that has cheated lots of people.”

Hope for Wholeness was originally an offshoot of Exodus International, which, for decades, was the center of the ex-gay movement and had more than 120 ministries in the United States and Canada. Exodus was dissolved in 2013 after the organization’s leader announced at a conference he would resign and apologized to those who spent “years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change.”